To Reassure
by temporalgambit
Summary: Karamatsu is woken up in the middle of the night, and he and Osomatsu get a chance to flex their "good older brother" muscles. (Warning for somewhat graphic descriptions of vomiting.)


It's Karamatsu who first hears it.

Some sort of soft noise, pulling him from a dream about…birds? It's fading too quickly to really remember, but he thinks there were birds. Probably. At any rate, his groggy mind decides it's almost certainly more important to investigate this noise than to return to those birds, so he slowly sits up, looks to his right—Ichimatsu seems to be sleeping soundly, which only leaves—

"Totty?" he questions softly, turning to face the youngest brother. Sure enough, he's curled into a tight little ball, trembling all over, trying to suppress hiccupy sobs through his fingers.

So that answers that question. Now it's just a matter of… "Hey, Totty, what's wrong? What happened?" A bad dream…? Something else…?

Todomatsu tilts his head to look up at Karamatsu. "I—I'm…I don't feel good, Karamatsu-niisan."

Okay, that's nothing he can't handle, probably. "Shh, hey, it's alright," he tries to soothe, rubbing his shoulder gently. "Is your stomach upset or something?"

A miserable nod.

"Okay, that's no problem, alright?" Todomatsu's always been pretty prone to tummyaches, so this isn't exactly shocking news. "Did you eat anything weird? Lots of sugary stuff today?"

"N—no, I just had what everyone else had…I think—" a tiny burp escapes his lips, and Karamatsu knows what _that's_ an indicator of, so he decides he needs to change tactics—fast.

"We have to get you up, alright?" _Nobody_ will be happy if he gets sick in their futon, not to mention how humiliated Todomatsu will be in the aftermath. While he may not be the _kindest_ of their brothers, Karamatsu figures even _he_ doesn't deserve that.

He barely has time to nod before Karamatsu's hauling him to his feet, pulling his arm across his shoulders to support him when he wobbles dangerously. This quick motion, however, disturbs another one of their bedmates, and Osomatsu stretches his arms out, staring up at the strange commotion occurring above him. "What's—?"

"Totty's gonna throw up, come on, help me," Karamatsu directs—and all of a sudden the eldest brother is _wide_ awake, scrambling to his feet to get to Todomatsu's other side.

They make it out the door without waking any of the others, but barely two steps down the hallway Todomatsu _whines,_ clamps a hand over his mouth, and sets them stumbling towards the bathroom at a much higher rate of speed.

They're still not fast enough.

Right before the bathroom door, Todomatsu gags—a sick, half-strangled sound—and vomit spurts out from between his fingers, dribbling down his pajama shirt and splattering onto the floor between his feet. He _sobs_ , staggering into the bathroom and collapsing in front of the toilet, where his crying only exacerbates the next giant heave as his stomach flips in what must be the most painful way possible, judging by the high-pitched sound of agony he makes.

Karamatsu grabs a towel and dampens it, going to wipe up the mess on the floor, while Osomatsu kneels next to their youngest. "It's okay, it's okay," he tries to comfort, because this would be a lot easier on Todomatsu if he would just _calm down_ —but in all honesty, it's probably impossible. Todomatsu isn't exactly _rational_ when it comes to not feeling well, and trying to reason with him while he's in the middle of turning himself inside-out seems unlikely to produce results. Sure enough, his only response is to cry louder, breath hitching in a desperate fight for oxygen as he retches again.

Osomatsu frowns, rubbing his back in big, slow circles. " _Breathe_ , okay? You have to breathe. You're gonna be fine, it'll be over soon."

Todomatsu just shakes his head, fingers tightening to a white-knuckle grip on the rim of the toilet as another heave causes his whole body to convulse. It seems whatever's causing this wants to be rid of everything he's eaten for the past month, judging by the colorful slurry oozing down his chin. As the eldest brothers, both Osomatsu and Karamatsu have seen enough of this that they can't really be grossed out by it anymore, but it still hurts something inside to see one of their baby brothers so uncharacteristically bent out of shape.

Finally, he gives one last pitiful gag, a tiny splash of stomach acid joining the contents of the toilet bowl, before he crumples into Osomatsu's lap.

Osomatsu lets out a small sigh of relief, now that _that_ part is over—at least for the moment. "Feel better?" he asks, combing his fingers through Todomatsu's sweaty hair.

"A little," he croaks, turning to look up at his brother. Tears and snot are still streaming freely down his face (not to mention the sticky mess of vomit clinging to his chin), but he looks somewhat more composed. Most of his focus is now on catching his breath, as his eyes slip shut momentarily in exhaustion.

Karamatsu, having long since completed his task of cleaning the floor, reaches into the closet once more to retrieve a washrag. He runs it under the tap, then comes to kneel beside Osomatsu. Gently, he wipes away the tear tracks from beneath Todomatsu's eyes, then scrubs off the goop on his chin. At the same time, Osomatsu carefully folds a square of toilet paper, which he offers to Todomatsu after Karamatsu is through. "Blow your nose, okay?"

Todomatsu nods, does as he's told, and tosses the tissue into the wastebasket. Osomatsu closes the lid before flushing the toilet, then slowly helps him to his feet so he can rinse his mouth at the sink. When he's finished, he pushes him gently to sit.

"Now, do you wanna stay here for the rest of the night in case you get sick again?" Todomatsu nods. "Okay, I'll go get your pillow and some extra blankets…and I guess you'll need to change your shirt, too…Karamatsu, can you take his temperature?"

Karamatsu hums in agreement, rummaging through the medicine cabinet while Osomatsu goes to gather the necessary items. He finds the thermometer stuck way in the back, underneath an ancient tube of toothpaste, so he gives it a little rinse in the sink before turning to Todomatsu.

By the time Osomatsu returns, they have their answer. "It's 38.4," he reports as Osomatsu carefully folds a blanket to add some cushioning to the floor, "so it's not _terribly_ high, but this means it isn't just an regular upset stomach, either—he's definitely got some kind of bug."

Osomatsu sighs, handing Karamatsu the clean pajama shirt and plopping a pillow down at the end of the makeshift bed. "Well, that means we're _all_ probably going to get it, then. Ah—it's no big deal, though," he amends when Todomatsu looks down, "you can just take care of the rest of us when we're all puking and miserable." He watches idly as Karamatsu helps Todomatsu change out of his soiled shirt. When that's done, Osomatsu steps in to help him get settled, tucking him in beneath the fluffiest blanket he could find in the hall closet. At the same time, Karamatsu runs another washcloth under cool water, wringing it out and gently placing it on his baby brother's forehead.

"Do you want one of us to stay with you?" he offers.

"Please," Todomatsu requests, blinking up at them with eyes so wide Karamatsu is momentarily afraid he's going to start crying again. But they both know how scared he is of being sick, so it's really only natural that he wouldn't want to be left alone.

The older brothers glance at each other, "I can just—" Karamatsu offers at the same time Osomatsu says, "I don't mind—"

"Ah, but didn't you have plans tomorrow?"

"I can cancel them," Karamatsu assures him. Really, he was just going to hang out in the park and try to pick up girls, so it's no big loss (for either him or the girls).

Osomatsu runs a finger beneath his nose. "Well, I was going to go play pachinko, but…" he glances down at their brother, "…this seems more important. Do you mind if I…?"

Karamatsu cocks his head to the side. "Not at all, but," his voice is a hushed whisper, so quiet Todomatsu probably can't hear him, "why?"

"I, um…" Osomatsu shifts a little, suddenly looking embarrassed, "I like, um…being the oldest, and…taking care of you guys, when I can."

More than slightly taken aback, Karamatsu blinks. "Osomatsu-niisan…" and, inexplicably, he feels his eyes welling with tears. Before he can stop himself, he's pulling his only older brother into a hug. "You're a good brother," he whispers.

Osomatsu returns the hug, stiffly. "Thanks, I guess. So can I…?"

"Of course," Karamatsu releases him, turns back to Todomatsu. "Osomatsu-niisan is going to stay with you, okay?"

Todomatsu nods, already half-asleep in his warm blanket cocoon.

"Goodnight, Karamatsu," Osomatsu murmurs as he lays down next to Todomatsu, preparing himself for the long-haul the rest of the night is sure to be.

"Goodnight, Osomatsu-niisan," Karamatsu replies, taking one last look at the oldest brother, curled ever-so-slightly around the youngest, before sliding the door shut.

Sometimes it's easy to forget the pure and simple love they all had for each other when they were kids. It's times like these that help to reassure Karamatsu it's still there, lingering, even though they've grown up to be so different. He wants to hold on to this feeling as long as he can.

He commits this moment to memory, for safekeeping.


End file.
